Legendary TV judge Judy Sheindlin says she will sue In Touch Weekly for defamation of character after they claimed she was on a “quest” to save the Menendez brothers.
Erik, now 53, and his brother Lyle, 56, are serving life without parole for fatally shooting their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, in 1989 in the study of their Beverly Hills mansion.
In Touch Weekly, a celebrity gossip magazine, published a story Wednesday titled “Inside Judge Judy’s Quest to Save the Menendez Brothers Nearly 35 Years After Their Parents’ Murder,” citing what they claimed were her quotes from a Fox Nation documentary about the infamous case.
Sheindlin does not even appear in the documentary, her rep and a Fox News spokesperson both confirmed. She is outraged by the story and tells DailyMail.com she is prepared to take the matter to court to protect her good reputation.
“I have spent 60 years building a reputation in the legal system, both as a judge and as a successful television personality,” she said in a statement.
Legendary TV judge Judy Sheindlin says she will sue In Touch Weekly for defamation of character after they claim she was on a ‘quest’ to save the Menendez brothers
Erik, now 53, and his brother Lyle, 56, are serving life without parole for fatally shooting their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, in 1989 in the study of their Beverly Hills mansion.
In Touch Weekly quoted what they claimed were her quotes in a Fox Nation documentary about the infamous case
“In just one moment, In Touch Weekly and all those who republished this ridiculous article have damaged that reputation.
“There will be consequences for this, and this will be the subject of a lawsuit,” she added.
She confirmed that attorney Eric George will represent her in the lawsuit.
In Touch and its parent company, a360media, did not immediately respond to DailyMail.com’s requests for comment. Shortly before DailyMail.com published this piece, In Touch’s story was removed from the site.
However, Sheindlin still plans to take legal action.
The In Touch story claimed that at one point in the documentary, Sheindlin calls the trial “rigged” and participated in the couple’s second trial.
At one point in the trailer for the four-part series, Judi Zamos – an alternate juror in the brothers’ first murder trial – claims the trial was “rigged.”
The story also claims that Sheindlin said that Supreme Court Justice Stanley M. Weisberg wanted to conduct the second trial in a manner “very, very different” from the first, while imploring attorney Leslie Abramson to demand that Weisberg recuse himself.
However, Sheindlin is missing from the entire series.
Sheindlin does not even appear in the documentary, her spokesperson confirmed, and is outraged by the story. She tells DailyMail.com that she is prepared to go to court to protect her good reputation.
The story claims that at one point in the documentary, Sheindlin calls the trial “rigged” and participated in the couple’s second trial. At one point in the trailer for the four-part series, Judi Zamos – an alternate juror in the brothers’ first murder trial – claims the trial was rigged.
Lyle, who was 21 at the time, and Erik, then 18, admitted to fatally shooting their father and mother in the entertainment department, but said they feared their parents were about to kill them to prevent the revelation of the long-term prevent sexual abuse of the father. from Erik.
During their televised trial, the brothers claimed they had been abused by both parents for years. According to prosecutors, there is no evidence of abuse.
They said the sons were after their parents’ multimillion-dollar estate, with jurors rejecting a death sentence in favor of life in prison without parole.
The TV special titled ‘Menendez Brothers: Victims or Villains’ challenges the conventional narrative surrounding murders, which has portrayed the pair as ‘greedy rich kids’ and callous killers.
‘If she [the brothers] “If it had been ‘the sisters,’ they wouldn’t have done that,” said their attorney Mark Geragos, speaking about the media’s mockery. ‘They would never do that today.
‘It is ridiculous. They already lived in luxury. It wasn’t that luxury or wealth were aspirational because they were already rich. You don’t get richer than Beverly Hills,” Geragos continued.
‘People have strong opinions, but they are not based on the actual facts. They are based on their memories of the press and the story that was told, which was “rich kids from Beverly Hills kill their parents for money,” their post-conviction attorney Cliff Gardner added.
The Menendez brothers, who are serving life sentences for the 1989 murder of their parents, claim the media portrayed them as criminals rather than victims of abuse. Lyle, left, and Erik, right, are pictured in recent mugshots from 2023
The brothers were moved into the same housing unit at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego in 2018
During the trial, there was limited testimony regarding claims of sexual abuse.
Jurors could only vote on murder charges and not manslaughter.
Last year, the brothers filed court papers to overturn their convictions based on new evidence, including a letter written to a cousin of the brothers, Andy Cano.
Cano claimed how Erik confided to him that he had been abused by their father long before they were shot dead.
‘I tried to avoid Dad. It still happens, Andy, but it’s worse for me now,” reads a letter from Eric. ‘Every night I stay awake thinking he might come in. …I’m scared… He’s crazy. He warned me a hundred times not to tell anyone, especially Lyle.”
Both attorneys, Gardner and Geragos, filed a writ of habeas corpus last May, citing the letter claiming the brothers’ convictions should be vacated.
Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon now has until April 11 to respond to the petition.
Should the brothers’ convictions be overturned, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office will have to decide whether the case should be retried.
